Revenge of the Birds
The NFC West Division is the best in the NFL. Three out of four member clubs received a playoff invitation to this year’s postseason tournament.
The Arizona Cardinals were the only member left home without a date. They finished dead last in the division with a 3-14-0 mark, then fired their coach but kept their GM.
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And now that the first round of the playoffs has begun, the NFC West is in domination mode. Seek and destroy.
The Seattle Seahawks captured the division and then earned the #1 seed. That came standard with an extra week off, plus they had zero chance of a loss in the opening round.
The Los Angeles Rams at one time had the division sewn up, only to go through a huge bump in their schedule. They made the postseason, but as a lower seed. The result was that they entered the tournament with the #5 seed and played the Carolina Panthers at home. It was a wild game, with the Rams finally coming out on top 34-31.
QB Matthew Stafford tossed three touchdowns against a single interception and was only sacked once. He also threw 42 passes in a game that featured the passing game. Los Angeles first appeared they would run away with the game as they jumped out to a 14-0 lead aided by an interception. However, the Panthers responded with a pair of touchdowns of their own in the second quarter and trailed 17-14 at halftime.
Both teams scored a field goal in the third quarter, as the defenses dominated and shut down any attempts to run the ball. Each team got 21 first downs as both had about the same average on passing yards per completion. The extra field goal in the second quarter for the Rams ended up being the difference maker.
Meanwhile, the San Francisco 49ers shocked the football world by defeating the reigning Super Bowl champs, the Philadelphia Eagles, 23-19, in the hostile confines of Lincoln Financial Field in Philly.
The Eagles were thought to be the crown jewel of the NFC, even though they were the #3 seed behind the Seahawks and the Chicago Bears, this year’s biggest surprise. In the final weekend of play, Seattle slammed the 49ers and exposed a weakness that if a defense shut down San Fran’s running game, their offense implodes. But against the Eagles, the 49ers did well at sending their running backs out for short passes.
RB Christian McCaffrey had just 48 yards on the ground, but snagged six passes out of eight targets for 66 yards and scored twice. The short passing game to WR Demarcus Robinson netted him 111 yards with a touchdown. Their defense took over from there, with LB Garret Wallow having 11 tackles while LB Eric Kendricks had 10.
So now, the NFC playoffs are down to four clubs. Three teams are NFC West Division members.
This weekend, the #1 Seahawks host the #6 49ers on...
